Internship

Internship and studying aboard are perfect citizen diplomacy. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at Peking University in March 2014, "I'm here today because I know that our future depends on connections like these among young people like you across the globe. We believe that relationships between nations aren't just about relationships between governments or leaders — they're about relationships between people, particularly young people."

International Interns in USA

For 10 years at The Walt Disney Company, IFERS president Newton Lee (LinkedIn) has personally hired and supervised 50 student interns. Since 2006, we have placed hundreds of interns from all over the world at U.S. companies with tremendous success benefiting both the interns and the host companies. We have been working with over 500 host organizations located in vibrant American cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Miami, and other parts of the United States.

2017 Internship Application

Eligibility: You are eligible if you are currently a university student, or you have recently graduated from a university, or you are a working professional between 18 and 38 years old. You should also have a good command of English.

Work Visa: We will advise you on J-1 visa application for internship and traineeship in the United States. We also offer services for other types of US visas including J-2, H-1B, H-2B, B-1, B-2, E-2, L-1, O-1, EB-5, and others.

Duration: Most companies accept interns all year round. The maximum length is 12 months for internship and 18 months for traineeship.

Application: Please email your resume or CV to intern@ifers.org or click on the link below:

We will review your resume or CV, and inform you our decision in 1 to 3 business days by email. You should apply at least 3 to 6 months before your intended internship start date in order to allow enough time for company matching and J-1 visa processing.

Our Interns Acknowledged in Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

IFERS president Newton Lee along with four Interns Wei Kiat Leong, Torng Hann Gideon Lim, Ban Hoe Poh, and Muhammad Firdaus Sani have been credited for their work on web design and game development for the 2015 Hollywood movie Finding Noah on IMDb.

Intern Testimonials from around the World

"I took up an opportunity to come to America for a 6-month attachment... My parents were not convinced but they chose to respect my decision. They were concerned that the attachment will not add value to my future career and I will just be wasting 6 months in America. However, my instincts strongly believed that this golden opportunity will instead, push me closer to my personal aspirations. While I am young and have this strong desire to learn from the best. These 6 months have definitely been a highly enriching and eye-opening experience. I am very excited for my future and believe that I am now one huge step closer to my own dream... The skills learnt in the internship had enhanced my innovative spirit and willingness to experiment with new system designs and capabilities in my current work. The American experience had built a good innovative thinking which enabled me to continuously think out of the box." - Chern G., National University of Singapore

"In 2015, I decided to do an internship in New York. I contacted IFERS to start an application for my internship. The first step of the application process is the resume review and a Skype interview by Newton Lee, the head of this program. He revised my resume and took a lot of information during the Skype interview. I was very surprised when I received a new resume less than a week after the start of the application process. Newton also gave me advices for the next step: job interviews. ... I got my first interview with a financial company located in New York. They offered me a paid 12-month internship in their financial team. I think I had a lot of opportunities but I also realized that without the help of Newton I wouldn't have had a job offer so fast. I want to thank him because he is a reliable and professional person (he replied to all my emails in a timely manner)." - Coumba D., University of Aix-Marseille, France

"My experience with the Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships was very positive. They were very helpful all the time since the beginning of my process. They took the time to listen to my expectations for the internship that I was looking for, and based on that, they improved my resume in the best way for me to get my dream job. The job interviews they found for me were very close to my dream job, and they were very supportive before and after each interview throughout the entire process. Mr. Lee answered all my emails and inquiries very fast, and he was always very helpful. I am very satisfied with my experience and I would definitely recommend it." - Carolina S., University of Los Andes, Colombia

"As my program mentor... Dr. Newton Lee had been extremely supportive throughout the process and I could always rely on him for genuine advice as he was knowledgeable, experienced and insightful. With his extensive network and connections in the digital and traditional media, information technology, marketing and public relations sectors, the program will continue to benefit many other aspiring students. As part of the program alumni, I look forward to seeing the growth of this program and I believe that under Dr Lee's lead and supervision, the program will further develop collaborative and mutually rewarding partnerships that would reap rewards in the long run for both regions and parties." - Lihui T., National University of Singapore

"So many new experiences for growth and a huge whirlpool of emotions to self-discovery as well. I count my blessings every second, for being able to be here [in America]... For this opportunity, this once in a lifetime adventure that not everyone can experience at 19. The company that you've set me up with, Dr. Newton Lee has given me tremendous growth. And I am forever indebted to you." - Tania N., Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore

"I'm a Swedish design student who has found a company in Los Angeles, California, which is happy to sponsor me while I'm doing my internship at their company. ... Thanks a lot for the quick reply and assistance." - Johanna C., Jönköping University Foundation, Sweden

"The best thing happened in my life when I was browsing the Internet and came across ifers.org. My dream is to learn US corporate culture and methodologies as it is going to help me pave the way to a brighter future career. From the first step of my application process till securing my J-1 internship visa, Mr. Newton Lee, being a great mentor, helped me and guided me through each step. According to my experience, he is truly the most knowledgeable and experienced person who I can rely on! His sincere effort and assistance bought me closer to my dreams." - Tanumita C., Calcutta University, India

"It was a great experience with great people. I am very satisfied by the internship and I wanted to thank you for that." - Ghita K., College Des Arts Visuels, Morocco

"Just wanted to thank you for all you did for me. I couldn't avail this opportunity without you." - Muhammad K., Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute Of Engineering, Pakistan

"I have to thank IFERS, because I have received great service assistance. Dr. Lee improves my resume to be more competitive. Now I'm working in the largest bank in USA! Exciting experience!" - Renato G., Universidade Paulista (UNIP), Brazil

"Thank you very much for improving my resume. I really like your work. I started an internship last week. ... I want to say thank you." - Jochen H., University of Münster, Germany

"Very impressed... outstanding job..." - Victor M., University of New South Wales, Australia

"Dr. Newton Lee is very nice person. He had been very polite and responsive during the whole process. He helped me find a great internship job in the US. Although it took time but the salary offered to me was much more than I was expecting. He always replied to all my queries with great patience and within hours. I had a great experience with Dr. Lee." - Balram V., Thapar University, India

"Mr. Lee is an avid professional with a very deep network in the entertainment industry. Thanks to him and IFERS, I am working with a dream company in Los Angeles. He is always very reachable and proactive in his approach. It was an absolute pleasure to connect with him through IFERS!"- Aishwary N., Berklee College of Music (Valencia Campus), Spain

"I was a junior student majoring in Computer Science at UCLA searching for a Software Engineering internship... I cannot thank enough to Newton Lee who gave me this opportunity to work with him. It still feels like it was just yesterday when I was an intern at Disney. The internship has opened so many doors to my future jobs. Once again, I would like to thank Newton for such amazing experience!" - Elis T., University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

"Mr. Lee is one of the brightest supporters and guides that I have ever had. He also has a great drive and passion for his work towards the candidate's future and their success in life. He never get tired in replying to emails and offering job placements. He is always there to help students who really want to build their future. It's a great honor for me to be helped by Newton Lee." - Anil K., Bharathiyar University, India

"I am fortunate and happy to inform you that I have been offered a full-time job. This wouldn't have been possible without you. Your services have been par excellence in spite of your busy schedule." - Benjamin J. P., Punjab Technical University, India

"Newton connected me with Walt Disney Imagineering. After clearing the interviews, I managed to secure a 6-months long J-1 internship job at Walt Disney Imagineering. I met a lot of great people in my 6-months working there and learned a lot from them. I get to understand how applied research works in the real world and reaffirmed that it was something I was interested in. Overall, it was a great experience and it would not have been possible without Newton's introduction." - Yingdan Y., National University of Singapore

"I am happy to recommend Newton Lee for his service given by Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships. He was organized, efficient and willing to do whatever was needed to get a particular task accomplished. Due to his unwavering professionalism and great commitment, Newton deserves serious consideration and I recommend him highly." - Alessandro S., Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy & Wenhua University, Taiwan

"My visa is approved. It was my pleasure to get guidance from you." - Shaheensha S., Teegala Krishna Reddy College of Engineering and Technology, India

"I can highly recommend using IFERS. Newton has been very helpful. He has responded to all my inquiries very quickly and provided me all the information I needed. Finding an internship in the U.S. as a Norwegian citizen was harder than I thought and using IFERS was a great decision." - Anja G., Norwegian Business School, Norway

Host Company Testimonials

"I cannot speak highly enough about the interns that worked with us. They were exceptionally talented, hard working individuals who were polite and well mannered. Our movie has benefited significantly from their contributions and as a result would eagerly accept any interns in the future. These young men have bright futures indeed." - Finding Noah (2015) Movie Producers

"Are there any students who are looking for an internship this year? The one thing I found with Kenneth from last year was since he had more experience he was able to dig into more complex tasks and contribute a lot to the projects which are usually beyond the scope of interns. I was able to involve him in some of the research and design work which was good - if there are any other candidates of that nature, I would welcome talking to them." - Motorola Mobility

"We really appreciate all of the efforts you provide to have the training happen. Colin is working out quite nicely. He says he is learning something every day and has a wonderful pride in his work. Looking forward to our next internship consideration after the June festival." - New Media Film Festival

"Ryan has been very helpful and not only has done a great job, he's fit into our crazy group of people and has been a joy to work with. He makes me laugh all the time. I would be happy to recommend him in the future. Too bad we can't keep him. That being said; yes we are looking for his replacement so clone him if you can ;-)" - HighlightCam

"I wanted to tell you what a great job all the interns are doing at Snapette. It has been a whirlwind of activity these last few weeks as we prepared for our big relaunch. Each person helped in many ways to ensure we had a successful launch today. From producing this wonderful video sent to all the press outlets to QA testing our website, Android and iOS apps, to translations, to graphic design, to coding web services, to even running around NYC testing our radar notifications, they each did great work." - Snapette

"Hey Newton, just wanted to say thanks for connecting us with Michael. He has been an incredible contributor, and I'm so happy to be able to work with him this summer. We'll definitely want to work with you again to sponsor future student interns. Please let me know if you come across other designers as talented as Michael is, and we'll interview them right away!" - inDinero

"I wanted to thank you for helping to bring Duncan Tanindra and Pang Zheng Yu to the Institute for Creative Technologies this past year. They were both extremely hard working, creative and productive. They both possessed a high level of professionalism, and were very pleasant to work with. I hope that we can continue to participate in your internship program in the future." - USC ICT

"We had such success with this intern project that we'd be delighted to do this again." - Georgia Tech

"I had worked with Stephanie for over a year at Disney Online. She developed software code and composed music for over 40 Disney online games. I was very impressed by her creativity, diligence, professionalism, and attention to details." - The Walt Disney Company